Friday night and there's a larger group of attractive Lebanese girls in the private room. 12 to be precise, all 20 something, with that dark-eyed and attractive complexion that comes of not immersing oneself too deeply in Western Culture.
Now they're all quite pretty, but I'm not interested. I'm far, far too old and I have this prejudice that pairs people of distinct cultural influences with like-minded people of distinct and similar cultural influences....
Some are still in the hajib, they're not eating pork or drinking liquor, but otherwise they seem to be having a good time.
I ask them what's become of the Talking Waiter, we still have no word as to his whereabouts, but that's a different table and they don't know him.
The boys - Nephew and G - keep swinging by the table, chatting to them, they don't, apparently, suffer my cultural prejudices, and eventually the Nephew adds one of them to his phone.
***
Now the Nephew, he's hung over, he had a crazy night on Thursday, drinking several times what was wise and today he's hurting, bad, he's not trying to pick anyone up for this evening, just keeping a door open for later.
But when he gets home the girl begins texting him, she wants him to come over, she's at a friends and they can have a spare room....
Nephew's hurting, not interested, not tonight anyways, but she doesn't give up. Maybe he'd like to split a hotel? She's only 16, and she begins sending him nude photographs of herself....
The Nephew, he tells me this, I believe him, never does he profess the slightest shade of integrity or virtue and nothing he can do or say will even slightly alter my perception of him, he is, in my mind, complete.
And as surprised as I am that people I'd consider to be - well, more morally congruous, are not so entirely, I can't help but to think that if you were to go off the Muslim bandwagon wouldn't it be a bit less taboo to have some pork or a drink? Certainly, comparing the Nephew to a pig, the Pig is a noble beast, the Nephew should have all of the unclean associations. But that's just me.
He's too hungover, the girl keeps sending him pictures of herself in increasingly spicy poses, he eventually blocks her on his phone.
Another one from the Nephew, long to narrate and completely without point but he feels compelled to tell me, only serving to somewhat dispel any illusions I might have harboured that other cultures and religions somehow harboured any greater or more solid values than those decaying in the West.